In the popular imagination, American GIs in postwar Germany were well-liked and well-behaved. But a new book claims that US soldiers raped up to 190,000 women at the end of World War II. Is there any truth to the controversial claim? […] … German historian Miriam Gebhardt, well known in Germany for her book about leading feminist Alice Schwarzer and the feminist movement, has now published a new volume casting doubt on the accepted version of America’s role in German postwar history. The work, which came out in German on Monday, takes a closer look at the rape of German...

An interview with John Parow – St. Lucie County Sheriffs Department D Breteau) Why did you become a Law Enforcement Officer? John Parow) It sounds like a cliché answer but I actually got into law enforcement because I truly like helping people. In this field, many people don’t like us overall but if I can help one person then that is what I am looking for. DB) Worst day as a cop? JP) February 28th 2013. On this day a fellow sergeant and friend was murdered while doing his job. During a traffic stop, the suspect exited his vehicle and...

This is a quick down and dirty of the main sniper rifles that was significant from past to present and had made huge contribution to the U.S. war campaigns. View the evolution of sniper rifle infograph here.

Sixty-one years ago on an island in the South Pacific, scientists and military officers, fishermen and Marshall Islands natives observed first-hand what Armageddon would be like. And it almost killed them all. The Atomic Energy Commission code-named the nuclear test Castle Bravo. The March 1, 1954 experiment was the first thermonuclear explosion based on practical technology that would lead to a deliverable H-bomb for the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command—part of the Operation Castle series of tests needed to manufacture the high-yield weapons. Bravo was the worst radiological disaster in American atomic testing history—but the test provided information that led...

â€‹The US Navy has been wowing people with electromagnetic railguns, a long-range electrically-powered weapon, in concept and prototyâ€‹pe for years now. But the single big obstacle that keeps the railgun off boats remains the same as it ever was: ships canÂ’t generate enough power to fire them. At the Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo, Vice Adm. William Hilarides explaineâ€‹d that three problems with the railgun remain: room on ships, integrating the new weapons with the old weapons systems, and powerÂ—as in, not enough of it. The railgun doesnÂ’t rely on chemical explosions like more conventional weapons. Instead, the...

Freedom is the unimpeded pursuit of happiness and prosperity in America. Freedom is something our veterans fight for and fight to defend. Thank you to all current and former armed service members for standing up to answer the call to defend our freedom. (click link for video)

Can someone please answer a question for me? We have been groomed over the years by the liberal crowd to believe that illegal aliens entering this country (illegally of course) is not a criminal offense, only a civil matter. However, the following code of laws regarding immigration state clearly: 8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien (a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2)...

The sniper is an incredibly efficient fighter, compared to the typical infantryman. Consider that in World War II, American infantry units fired 25,000 rounds to kill just one enemy soldier. By the Korean War, that figure jumped to 50,000 rounds, and the select-fire M14 and M16 infantry rifles of the Vietnam War only seem to have produced more misses, requiring the expenditure of 200,000 rounds to kill one enemy combatant. It is ironic that a country built on a tradition of rifle marksmanship took nearly 200 years to formally embrace the sniper, the man that represents the military apex of...

These pistol shooting drills from the Russian Special Forces are off the hook. It's something that you're not going to see in the U.S. These drills are for the advanced gun toting folks that sleep and breathe carrying guns 24/7 not for the norm. Again Warning do not try these drills at home. Here's an accidental discharge while doing this crazy drill and he's a pro. See the rest of this crazy Russian SF drills here.

Trident question comes to the surface The SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens want Trident to be scrapped The loch at Faslane is very calm on a beautiful spring-like day, seagulls wheel above the jetty and its short, white radar tower. Beneath the still waters, I presume, lurks some of Britain's ageing nuclear deterrent. The future of Trident may not be much of an issue in the election, but it will be one of the most important, and expensive, decisions the new government makes. And it could be a vital issue in any negotiations if there is a hung...

Iran has carried out a massive attack on a mock version of an American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Tehran wanted everyone to know about it—state TV broadcasted the military exercise live. It’s a revealing look at Iranian naval assault tactics, involving several waves of ships backed by helicopters and shore-launched missiles. The timing isn’t a coincidence. The United States and Iran are deadlocked over a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. The Iranians built the giant, 1:1-scale mock-up of the carrier on top of a barge almost one year ago. Photos released from Iranian news agencies on Feb. 25 now show...

Raytheon's 155mm M982 Excalibur extended-range guided artillery shell is being shrunk down to fit into the Mark 45 five inch deck guns that are deployed aboard the Navy's Cruisers and Destroyers. This miniaturized sea-going Excalibur, known as the N5, could triple the range of current five inch shells and offer pinpoint 'danger close' fire support like never before.

India is fast tracking its project to build an indigenous aircraft carrier, since the country's oldest carrier is scheduled to retire next year, The Times Of India reports. India's current INS Viraat aircraft carrier is set to retire next year after 56 years of service in the Indian navy. With a fleet of only 11 aging Harrier jump jets and a host of mechanical and restoration costs, it isn't economically or strategically viable to continue operating the vessel. As the retirement will leave the Indian navy with only one other carrier, the INS Vikramaditya. So India has decided to speed...

Seventy Years Ago TodayFebruary 23, 1945, Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima From This Day In U.S. Military History: During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island’s highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. "Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi’s slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer...

I have tried and tried to find out what's going on with our 300 marines stationed at the Al-asad airbase, with ISIS reported to be 5 miles away. That was several days ago. Is there a news blackout going on? Covering up Odungo's latest leaving our troops in peril from his Muzzie buddies? Does anyone know what's going on with them? I would appreciate an update. And I pray it's a positive one.

Michael's life after Forest mirrored the hapless hero's. Instead of taking Hollywood up on a number of high-profile offers, he decided to sign up for military service. Michael said: 'Where we were filming was very close to Parris Island, the Marine Training Camp in South Carolina where all the helicopters that were used in the Vietnam scene came from. 'I would often tell the director and producers how cool I thought all the helicopters were and then one weekend they actually arranged for some of the Marine Corps to take me over to Parris Island and show me the fighter...

HUNTER GARTH was in a gunfight for his life — and about to lose.He and seven other Marines were huddled in a mud hut, their only refuge after they walked into an ambush in Trek Nawa, a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan. Down to his last 15 bullets, one buddy already terribly wounded, Mr. Garth pulled off his helmet, smoked a cheap Afghan cigarette, and “came to terms with what was happening.”“I’m going to die here with my best friends,” he recalled thinking.I didn’t know any of this — nor the remarkable story of his survival that day — when I...

Capt. Joseph J. McCarthy, USMCR (MOH) From This Day In U.S. Military History: 21 February 1945 – Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, Japan Citation: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of a rifle company attached to the 2d Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the seizure of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 21 February 1945. Determined to break through the enemy’s cross-island defenses, Capt. McCarthy acted on his own initiative when his company advance was held up by...

Pfc. Jacklyn Harold Lucas, USMCR (MOH) From This Day in U.S. Military History: 20 February 1945 – Iwo Jima, Japan Citation: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-sixth Marines, Fifth Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands 20 February 1945. While creeping through a treacherous, twisting ravine which ran in close proximity to a fluid and uncertain front line on D-plus+1 Day, Private First Class Lucas and three other men were suddenly ambushed by a...

WASHINGTON – Islamic State "affiliates" seem to be emerging at an alarming rate, giving the sense of an expanding terror network with satellites all over the world. But a closer look, according to analysts, shows these ISIS offshoots are likely operating without much coordination with the Islamic State core. It doesn't make them any less dangerous, but helps explain how a group President Obama described just one year ago as "JV" has established a presence in nearly a dozen countries. Unlike Al Qaeda, which in its prime was operationally stronger and had a better communication network with its affiliates, the...

Seven out of ten Americans say that despite his apology, suspended “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams should resign from NBC for repeatedly lying on national television, according to a nationwide poll conducted last weekend by McLaughlin & Associates. The poll was commissioned by the Media Research Center (MRC), which is the parent company of CNSNews.com. “This poll confirms that the American people no longer trust Brian Williams to report the news,” said MRC president Brent Bozell. “This is no longer about Brian Williams’ reputation. This is about NBC News having any chance of being a credible source of news.” …

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. The life of toil and effort, of labor gold strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little...

Second Lt. Anthony Kemp was bitten by a rattlesnake while he and two other Marines were hiking in the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma. LAWTON — For three Marines hiking in the Wichita Mountains earlier this month, the Corps’ motto of Semper Fidelis — Latin for “always faithful” — played out in ways none of them expected when a large rattlesnake bit 2nd Lt. Anthony Kemp, 23, almost killing him. “You’re always faithful to your brother,” Kemp said Wednesday from his hospital bed at OU Medical Center, where he is recovering from the bite and the resulting above-the-knee amputation of...

ISIS is using a lot of strategies that they must have learned from Nathan Bedford Forrest. Upon reading history, the main tactics employed by Forrest were raw determination, speed, and deceit. ISIS does not have nearly the manpower the media here (which obviously delights in the killing) portrays. They don't have anything they claim to have. It's all a lie. Were we to have proper leadership (A general Sherman, for example) who could be turned loose on ISIS, it would all be over in a matter of weeks. As someone famously said, "You to have to kill enough of the...

The German army has faced a shortage of equipment for years, but the situation has recently become so precarious that some soldiers took matters into their own hands. On Tuesday, German broadcaster ARD revealed that German soldiers tried to hide the lack of arms by replacing heavy machine guns with broomsticks during a NATO exercise last year. After painting the wooden sticks black, the German soldiers swiftly attached them to the top of armored vehicles, according to a confidential army report which was leaked to ARD.

The Air Force is working to get a B-52 bomber back into service after it sat collecting dust for seven years at the famous Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. On Feb. 13, the B-52H—with the serial number 61–0007—left the desert for its new home with the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. This is the first time the Air Force has “regenerated” one of these bombers from the Boneyard back to active duty.

When the order to retreat came over the radio Wednesday, most of the Ukrainian troops under siege in Debaltseve abandoned their heavy weapons, blew up their ammunition, and then fled in convoys of trucks as pro-Russian forces shot at them along the way. But for Ilya Andrushko, one of about 30 members of Ukraine’s Lviv battalion, the only way to escape was on foot. “We didn’t have a chance to think about the order when it came,” said Andrushko, 33. “We ran through the fields and the forests on foot, for about five kilometers. Then we just hitchhiked in whatever...

Clayton Chipman saw the first flag raising. So did Harvey Kurz. Both were relieved and happy to see Marines had finally scaled Mount Suribachi four days after the Feb. 19, 1945, invasion of the hardscrabble, desolate island in the Pacific Ocean. Each looked at the American flag flapping in the wind and then returned to the business at hand — staying alive.

A 28-year-old former US soldier has returned to Iraq as part of a militia defending one of the world's oldest Christian communities under threat from terror group ISIS. The man, known only as Brett, is one of the leading foreign fighters in the Dwekh Nawsha Christian militia. He had previously served in the US Army in Baghdad between 2006 and 2007. Now, he is based in Al-Qosh, home of a mostly Christian population, which had been forced to flee into Kurdistan when ISIS fighters threatened to approach.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has developed a new hypersonic missile fuel, a senior defense official has announced. According to Russian state-media outlets, Army General Dmitry Bulgakov, the deputy minister of defense, told reporters on Tuesday that the ministry has developed special new fuel to enable missiles to fly at hypersonic speeds.

I don't write vanities. This isn't intended as one. But I've been wrestling with the question of "why won't they call it Islamic Radicalism?" But today was an epiphany. After listening to Marie Harf explain that "extremists need jobs" I realized that the violence that won't be named is only an example of the ongoing culture war in our own country. Fundamentally, Marxists of whom Obama is an adherent attribute historical movements the material dialect. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism) Essentially matter precedes thought. People, as groups, are motivated not by religion, which is a mere epiphenomenon of matter, but by material need. I...

1971, A War Hero Remembers War Hero Major General Ian Cardozo (retd)was wounded in the battle of Sylhet in Bangladesh in the 1971 war with Pakistan. He lost his leg in a landmine blast, but conquered his disability and went became the first disabled officer in the Indian Army to command an infantry battalion and then a brigade. Awarded a Sena Medal for gallantry, General Cardozo is presently Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India and has authored The Sinking of INS Khukri -- Survivors Stories and Param Vir -- Our Heroes In Battle. In conversation with Claude Arpi, the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), new chairman of the Senate armed services’ subcommittee on military personnel, has signaled he will defend retirement reforms proposed for a new generation of service members by the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.

A team of former Navy Seals and CIA operatives splash beer on their faces as they prepare to play the part of American sex tourists. They’ll have to maintain laser-sharp focus as they engage in negotiations with some of the world’s dirtiest criminals. One suspicious move or remark could put their whole team at risk and prevent the rescue of dozens of innocent children. This team, known as Operation Underground Railroad, works to prosecute child sex traffickers and to rescue the victims. Heading the team is Tim Ballard — a husband, a father of six children and a BYU alumnus....

Commdr. Stephen Decatur, USN From Today in U.S. Military History: 16 February 1804 – Tripoli – Barbary Coast During the First Barbary War, U.S. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur leads a military mission that famed British Admiral Horatio Nelson calls the “most daring act of the age.” In June 1801, President Thomas Jefferson ordered U.S. Navy vessels to the Mediterranean Sea in protest of continuing raids against U.S. ships by pirates from the Barbary states–Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripolitania. American sailors were often abducted along with the captured booty and ransomed back to the United States at an exorbitant price. After...

Like many of our readers, I am now limited to my closest ranges being indoor. Drives me nuts when I have to zero a rifle for 3-gun and the longest range I can get too quickly is a scant 15 yards. (I can drive 45 minutes to some good long-ranges, but getting at least three hours free can be difficult).

Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence (MoD) sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is "effectively dead".The reason: During three years of negotiations between Dassault and MoD officials in the so-called "contract negotiation committee" (CNC), it has emerged that Dassault's bid was actually higher than that of the Eurofighter Typhoon, not lower as the MoD had announced on January 31, 2012. Dassault had submitted a sketchy commercial bid, and when the CNC obtained details from the French company to...

"Five or six minutes can be enough time, if you have trust, if you have communication and if you can put this machinery immediately to work," former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on the sidelines of last weekend's Munich Security Conference. Unfortunately, he argued, this machinery works very poorly today, and there is great mistrust. Deep mistrust has developed between the West and Russia, and it is having a massive effect on cooperation on security matters. In November 2014, the Russians announced that they would boycott the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in the United States. In December, the US...

David Vogt, Maryland State Delegate and 2010 Marine of the Year, calls for Maryland's Speaker of the House to repeal gun-grabbing legislation at 2nd Amendment Rally. The crowd makes him do push-ups and he throws in "one for the Corps." Oorah!! Check out the video

This week’s DTIC document is one well worth reading in the interest of understanding the AR-15’s early deployment and subsequent “fall from grace” later in the 1960s. It bears more detailed examination than I usually put into the Weekly DTIC, so this will be a longer post than usual. The document is DARPA’s Field Test Report, AR-15 Armalite Rifle, a controversial document extolling the virtues of the early AR-15 in Vietnam. The basic thesis of the document is best summed up in this quote:

In a post on their site titled “Eddie Routh: The Untold Story,” Warfighter News details their comprehensive investigation involving interviews with three Marines who served directly with Routh, and several inconsistencies with the defense. “We reached out to experts and did our own homework,” Spencer Walker, Board Chairman and CEO of Warfighter News, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The defense is trying to claim Routh had PTSD, but our analysis shows that it’s extremely unlikely. According to Dr. C. Alan Hopewell, former Senior Neuropsychologist for the Department of the Army, Routh’s actions indicate paranoid schizophrenia. PTSD has been endlessly...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hormone treatment for gender reassignment has been approved for Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst convicted of espionage for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website. Defense Department officials said Thursday that the hormone therapy was approved Feb. 5 by Col. Erica Nelson, commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence. The Army was providing some treatment but not enough, according to the lawsuit, including psychotherapy from a mental health specialist who lacked the qualifications to treat gender dysphoria. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and many state and...

The 2015 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize will go to winner Harold Holzer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, for "Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion" (Simon & Schuster). The Prize is awarded by Gettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Holzer was chosen from 114 nominations as the 2015 recipient. He will receive $50,000 and a bronze replica of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' life-size bust “Lincoln the Man” in a ceremony April 23 in New York City. The Prize was co-founded in 1990 by businessmen and philanthropists Richard Gilder and...

CBS This Morning‘s Steve Hartman gets to the heart of the matter: “What’s amazing to me about you is that you’re out in the desert for weeks on end, you didn’t cry. Your friends are dying next to you and you didn’t cry. You get to talking about America and you started crying.” Kuch responds with a simple, but powerful answer: “I love this country so much.” This is why being in the military is deeply personal for Kuch. He’s not only serving his country, but it’s the best way he could find of saying “thank you” to a country...

President Barack Obama is joining with lawmakers and government leaders to cast a spotlight on the issue of suicide among veterans. Obama on Thursday will sign the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act into law. […] The measure is named for a Marine who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. …